Tekton DIs or Legacy Focus SEs?


I saw on the forum the huge discussion of the Tekton DI speakers after I had been looking at them and the Legacy Focus SEs. I have upgraded my components to many Agoner's advice and I'm now running a Parasound Halo A-21 with a Mac C48 pre, all pushing B&W 802 Matrix 3 speakers. While I love my 802s, I'm frustrated with the lack of rock performance they produce, Jazz is definitely more their forte! Can any of you Agoners who've heard or owned both help me with this dilemma so I can push the button on one of these obviously awesome speakers???Thanx!

Steve

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Showing 8 responses by ron1264

Legacy's by a long shot! I have owned both this past year and the DI's are no where as refined and as dynamic for the type of music you listen to. And if looks matter to you, its kinda like the beauty and the beast. There is a pretty large difference in cost, but worth it for the Legacy's. IMHO.
@vitop I forgot to mention, I did buy the Goldenear Supercenter XL. I'm mainly a 80% 2-channel music guy, so I'm not as crazy over the home theater sound as I am with 2-ch audio, so the goldenear center will be good enough for me.
@jayctoy , several SS and tube. Krell, emotiva SS, Promaluna Tube, Cambridge Integrated. I'm not saying the tekton's are bad, just not to my liking. all due respect to the OP, I would not recommend either as I went a different route.
@jayctoy I must of went thought 6 or so speakers in the past year. Paradigm Tributes, Legacy Focus SE, Tekton DI’s, Emotiva T2’s, Goldenear triton 5's and 7's and I ended up settling with the Goldenear triton Reference for the time being. They had the most of what I was looking for in sound and don’t need subs. I liked the Trubutes a lot and had them for the longest time of the bunch, but I had a problem with Paradigm as a company, so they lost my loyalty. I do have an interest in checking out the new Elac Adante speakers coming out any day now. They look very promising
Sure @vitop . First let me tell you that the Focus SE an the DI's are very different speakers, but I did not care for either one for two very different reasons. First, the Focus SE's are very dynamic and "in you face". That can be a good thing and is probably the reason why so many studios use Legacy Speakers. The midrange detail is incredible! BUT, they were just too big for my smallish 12 x 14 room with 7ft ceilings and didnt sound right
. There are a few reasons I didn't care for the DI's. I didn't think they were "refined" enough, that did improve greatly after about 50 hrs break in, but not enough to my liking. Another reason was the bass was just not there. Yes I said it, but the reason I found out goes back to my room size. My room has a null at around 50-60hz due to it's Dimensions, and that is also also where the resonant frequencey is on the DI woofers, so bass output was not that great and I refuse to use room correction on my 2-channel portion of my system. I like to keep the signal "pure" as good or bad as that may seem.
That gets us to the Goldenear Reference. These speakers are very refined, smooth sound, but with tons of high end sizzle without being harsh. These speakers image like crazy, and sound great for a large speaker in a small room. They throw a large and deep soundstage. A nice word for them is they sound "Majestic". With built in subs, I have all the bass I need, and are easily driven by my 25w tube amp as well as my 600w SS monos. These turned out to fit most of my needs (because all us audiophiles are never 100% satisfied), so, they are keepers for the time being.
@vitop I think you will be ok with the reference near a wall. Mine are pretty close to the corners, and you can adjust the bass level.

Oh, and to point out any flaws in the GE Reference, they have a very refined sound, but the the bass could be more "tuneful" and tight. Not that it is slow and sloppy by any means, but not so as much as say my Paradigm Tributes. But I guess there has to be a trade off at some point to get bass that deep and powerful
@nitewulf Yea, you maybe right, but I came across a local sale used as I don't have the coin to buy the Focus SE's new a 11.5K. They even delivered them to me, so I jumped on that deal and realized after they were just to big for my room. 

I heard great things about Dynaudio and thought about giving them a listen.
@jayctoy  the only thing that scares me about the Elac Adante is I think my tube amp may have a problem driving them as they are 4 ohm and a pretty low sensitivity